RESULTS: HCV infected patients exhibited significantly higher antiCD81/CLDN1 antibody titers compared to healthy individuals (p < 0.0001). Among HCV infected patients, individuals who CHIR-99021 purchase cleared the virus had higher antibody titers during the acute phase of infection compared to individuals progressing to chronic infection (p = 0.0197). Furthermore, in the majority of patients that resolved hepatitis C, virus-neutralizing antibody titers were associated with anti-CD81/CLDN1 titers. CoNCLUSION: Our data suggest that anti-receptor

autoantibodies are produced in the early phase of viral infection and that these antibodies could contribute to spontaneous viral clearance in conjunction with anti-viral responses. Characterization of these anti-receptor autoantibodies may open new avenues to prevent and treat HCV infection. Disclosures: Michael Roggendorf – Speaking and Teaching: Abbott, novartis Thomas Berg – Advisory Committees or Review

Panels: Gilead, BMS, Roche, Tibotec, Vertex, Jannsen, Novartis, Abbott, Merck; Consulting: Gilead, BMS, Roche, Tibotec; Vertex, Janssen; Grant/Research Support: Gilead, BMS, Roche, īibotec; Vertex, Jannssen, Schering Plough, Boehringer ingelheim, Novartis; Speaking and Teaching: Gilead, BMS, Roche, īibotec; Vertex, Janssen, Schering Plough, Novartis, Merck, Bayer The following people have nothing to disclose: Rajeevkumar G. Tawar, Helga Meisel, Mirjam B. Zeisel, Thomas F. Baumert BACKGROUND & AIMS: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an important class of small non-coding RNA molecules that bind to selleck kinase inhibitor their complementary sequence on their target mRNAs, resulting in translational repression. MiRNAs play important roles in development, metabolism, infection, and cancer. In this study, we analyzed the changes of miRNA expression associated with the progression of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). METHODS: Liver biopsy samples were obtained from 54 patients with CHC

and patients with a normal liver. All CHC patients were infected with genotype 1b HCV. MiRNAs were obtained from the biopsy specimens, and the expression of 328 miRNAs was determined with the ĪaqMan Real-time PCR detection system using the ĪaqMan MicroRNA Assays Human Panel. The functional relevance of fibrosis-related miRNAs 上海皓元 was evaluated in Lx- cells, a human stellate cell line, by the overexpression or knocking down of specific miRNAs using mimic-miRNA or antimiRNA. HCV replication was evaluated in Huh-7.5 cells using the infectious genotype 1a clone pH77S.3/Gluc2A with a Gaussia reporter gene. HCV translation (HCV-IRES) activity was monitored in the stably transformed IRES reporter cell line RCF26.. RESULTS: The expression of 55 miRNAs was significantly different between patients with early stage fibrosis (F1-2) and advanced stage fibrosis (F3-4), and the prediction performance was 83% accurate according to the support vector machine algorithm.